Misery Loves Company
by Hidden-Monster
Summary: Alone in the basement of Fangtasia, thoughts of regret, guilt and desolation are the only company Sarah Newlin has to hold on to.


"Just be thankful you don't have that nasty-ass rag in your mouth this time," she deadpanned right before turning on her heels and walking away. I did not scream or cry in reaction. I would show her I was strong-willed and unafraid. She liked that in her women and would come to love me in time. All do.

But the jailer left in her absence was different. Warm-skinned, smelling of cheap perfume and wine coolers. Human. Wordlessly I tried to get her to sympathize with my situation, but she seemed trained to not look in the eyes of others. Once I could no longer hear Pam's shoes clicking on the upstairs floor, I decided to take a chance.

"Please.." I whispered.

Her bleached blonde mop twirled in my direction, hands still holding the bucket which shamefully was supplied to hold my waste.

"You can help me." I pleaded, my own hands posed in a praying fold.

Her already small eyes narrowed at me as she approached my cage.

"Don't you talk to me 'bout betraying them! They've been good to me for all these years, while you…" She paused, switching her rural bumpkin accent to a something imitating a character in a Tennessee Williams play. "YOU…diseased me! Ruined me for any man!"

"You mean any vampire," I clarified further, as she proudly displayed several bite marks on her exposed skin. "But the cure is out there, thanks to me! Hep-V doesn't matter anymore!"

"Like hell it doesn't. Not when there's dozens of girls out there uninfected."

She seemed lost, alone, sad. I wish I had met her years ago. The Fellowship could have helped her. For the few years we existed, we still made a great difference in many human's lives. But now it seems poor Ginger was beyond hope. Also no one had bothered to inform her that drinking from me would permanently cure her.

"And why am I wasting time gabbing to you?" she snapped. "I've got a full season of _16 & Pregnant_ DVRed and a marshmallow and peanut butter sandwich just waiting for me upstairs!"

I have admit, the last item did sound tempting.

"But you will come back? Won't you..? Ginger?"

No use. My words were lost as every ounce of Ginger's mind was spent on successfully climbing the stairs in 7 inch platform heels without falling and breaking her neck.

"And maybe bring me a sandwich too?"

The metal door slammed shut and three locks clicked into place after a few failed attempts.

I folded my legs up so I could lay on my side in the little prison. There was fortunately a blanket lining my cage. Unfortunately it was covered by the dried strains of someone else's blood. In the near darkness, I could no longer see it but the smell still lingered.

That smell. Gag. That rusty god-awful, disguising aroma. I've distressed it ever since the day when my blossoming womanhood destroyed a perfectly good pair of underwear. A short time later, after observing the thin liquid draining off a piece of steak my mother was cooking, I swore off meat for the years to come.

Yet these evil creatures survive on blood. Craved it even. How do they do it?

"How _do_ they do it?"

"You're asking me now?" he replied bitterly.

"Yes. Why not?"

"Because, Silly-Sarah, you know I'm not real!" Steve always said that, yet would continue talking on every occasion. A small detail like not existing certainly wouldn't stop him from making any speeches. "Any answers I come up with is what you thought of. Now, if you wanted to know things like how blood tastes and how I could actually drink it, you should have asked me while I was in your little camp."

"OUR camp."

"Sure, _Our Camp,_ if you prefer. But you know who was behind the wheel of that operation in the end. And you know what I've always said about women drivers" He positioned his hands as if they were gripping an invisible wheel, and then proceeded to speed walk in a zig-zag fashion while making accompanying sound effects. I ignored it.

"You would have been proud of me. The old you. The good you."

"The non-vampire me. I get it. The version you conjured up. The one you remember."

Of course it was true. Even if I was mad, crazy enough to imagine my ex-husband talking to me, I would try to remember him as he was. Back when he was at least a slightly decent person.

"But he's dead, Sarah. Been deader long before you saw me go splat on the floor of that infamous room. And, in the end, maybe you never knew the real me anyway."

"And who's fault is that!" I screamed. "Stupid fairy-faggot-fangbanger! I don't want you here! Go away! Stop haunting me!"

From upstairs a brief pounding on the door interrupted my statement, followed by Ginger's own screaming to lower my voice. Or harsher words to that effect.

Now directly in front of my bars, kneeling he whispered.

"I can go anytime I like. But is that what you really want? To be down here all alone?"

Not necessarily waiting for a response, Steve jumped up. In the blink of an eye, he now stood, arms crossed smugly, on the other side of the room.

"And in reference to your name-calling. That's quite hypocritical, is it not? Didn't you offer your cooch to Pamela in exchange for being one of those oh-so-evil vamps? ..only for her to turn you down flat!"

I still didn't answer. I wondered if maybe he would cease talking if I did the same, but there was no stopping him once he found an angle in a debate.

"Sarah-honey, being the gay vampire is my thing. Now of course, you'd be jealous enough to try to ride on my coat tails.."

"Jealous?! My tell-all and romance novel sold millions more than _Living Alive_ did! I was going to be a Governor's wife! I came closer to destroying the vampire race than you ever could!"

"Yeah, and look where that got you."

"At least I'm alive."

"For now.." Steve sung, smiling.

Recently my thoughts had mirrored that notion, so I remained mum. And instead, shut my eyes and mediated. But always a darkness lingered nearby, preventing anything close to inner peace. Of course when I did finally open my eyes, I found him standing directly over me. Looking more somber than before.

"Why did you kill me, Sarah?"

"You were a vampire. Did I need another reason? Or should I mention that group of college kids that you and that dirty old vampire slaughtered."

That quickly brought his chirpiness back.

"Hoo-hoo…You really DO sound jealous!"

I hissed the word back in his face. "Jealous?!"

"Sure, Sarah. You saw the footage. You saw his arm around me. What did you think? What did you imagine was going on?"

"You were sick, Steve."

" Did you try to picture it? Or tried to ponder how long I was the way I am, if I was with men before then? Thought back and attempted to pick up on the signs. But you would never admit anything publicly. Never did include that tiny detail in your book. The fact that your husband was gay certainly wouldn't do your image any favors!"

"I killed you because you had become evil, Steve! Not evil because you liked getting fucked by men. Not even because you were a blood sucking creature of the night, but because you flat out murdered people!"

"But that wasn't the first time…was it?" Steve pondered, tapping his finger against his chin. "The bomb I gave to Luke. You didn't try to kill me after I told you about that. Well granted, you did divorce me, but that was mainly for other reasons, was it not? And your hands aren't exactly clean either. What about whats-her-face? Ms..Honda?..Mitsubishi?"

"Suzuki."

"Yes! I knew I was getting close."

"That was in self-defense."

"Yes, self-defense. As you chased after her.."

"She would have exposed everything-"

"Slamming her head against the metal grid.."

"Probably sent me to prison."

"Before finally twisting that shoe off her broken ankle"

"Stop!"

"And slamming it right into her skull!"

Both hands were wrapped over my ears, but I could still make out the rest of his remarks. He spoke of the blood. The blood that oozed out of her head, tinkled down to the male prisoners below, who lapped it up off of the floor like hungry cats drinking spilled milk.

However at no point did Steve explain how they could do such a thing. How such beings who used to enjoy good wholesome foods like potato chips and ice cream could reduce themselves to existing off a thin nasty red fluid. But then again, after some reflection, I figured I might be better off not knowing.

I think I might have slept then. At least until I heard Ginger's voice informing me to 'Finish it fast and don't tell no one!' The artificial lights from upstairs shined below and I could spot a triangle sandwich half stuck to my hair.

She was gone before I could properly thank her, and I thought I was alone at last until I heard Steve say goodbye for me.

"That looks good." he stated once I got my hands around the sticky pieces of bread. Steve was always a glutton when it came to food. Frankly I'm not sure how he stayed so thin.

The sandwich was gone after four bites, but I could already feel my stomach thanking me for the filler.

"Better?" Captain Obvious asked.

"I wish you would stop talking."

"So you can listen to the silence?"

At last, I decided to say it. "I didn't think you would be the only one to die. Everyone was suppose to burn. All vampires were to be destroyed…not just you."

"Is that suppose to make me feel better or you?"

"I…didn't enjoy watching it. I wouldn't go as far to say I regret it, because of what you'd become, but…I'm sorry."

He lingered out on the floor wordlessly, shifting his mouth to the side to convey thought. Well, I didn't care if he would accept any apology anyway. He hardly deserved one, but if I could get some guilt off my chest, it was worth the slight indignity.

"Sorry, why?" he finally replied.

"Because.." Dammit, why was he being so cruel to make me spell it out? "We once had something. We used to be best friends in the beginning.." Tears developed in my eyes, but I did not let them go farther than that. "Maybe you should have died for what you did. But, despite what happened between us, I shouldn't have been the one to do it."

Again, silence. I couldn't stand it. Not when I could see him standing there. Was he now just being quiet to mock me?

"And are you sorry about anything?" I asked him directly.

"I don't know. What do you think?"

I wish he was. That he regretted not treating me better, giving me what I deserved, and appreciating all that I did for him. But I honestly couldn't see Steve saying all that, so he didn't. He just waited with his mouth shut while I pondered my next question.

"Will you ever leave me?"

His answer made me cringe at what I'd been reduced to desiring in order to survive.

"No. I will stay with you, always."


End file.
